Archive
“How do you make a small fortune in publishing?” “Start with a large fortune.” First of all, I must apologise for over a month’s silence here at booktwo.org. I have, as I promised, been working on something, and it’s finally available for inspection. I hope you won’t mind me discussing it here: certain aspects of it are certainly germane. The project is Bookkake, an entirely print-on-demand, and web-oriented, publisher. For those of delicate tastes, be warned that the initial books are all of a somewhat physical nature that is not unrelated to their status as literature, and... Read the rest of this post →
Imagine a book that told a different story every time it was opened. The story might change depending on the gender of the reader, or the sex. It might depend on the location of the reader, or the position of the book in time; the time of day, or time in years. Centuries might pass before the book tells the same story again. The nature of the web makes such a book possible. Immediately, a simple reading of the user-agent to determine the reader’s operating system and browser could be used to present each with a different version, breaking the... Read the rest of this post →
George Perec’s W, and the tyranny of the Olympic Ideal, by James Bridle. The Frenchman Pierre Frédy, Baron de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympics, believed that the Olympic games could be a force for peace in the world, creating a new religion “adhering to an ideal of a higher life, to strive for perfection”, as well an an elite “whose origins are completely egalitarian”. But they had a darker, parallel root: Coubertin had seen his nation humiliated in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71 and blamed its failure on the dissoluteness of its youth. Only through strenuous physical exercise... Read the rest of this post →
The Great Escape cover above, designed by Abram Games for Penguin in 1951, is one of my all-time favourites. And when, Moleskined-out, I needed a new notebook, it sprung to mind. So here’s what I did. I scanned in the cover, and created a dummy edition, complete with 200 blank, numbered pages, which I had printed by Lulu – a replica edition for my own use. It cost £5, which I thought was pretty reasonable. If you’d like to do the same, here’s the blank, numbered interior pdf for a 200pp paperback notebook (what Lulu calls... Read the rest of this post →
I got my Cuecat a couple of weeks ago and spent a happy couple of hours scanning in this whole bookshelf, which consists of approximately 90% of my library. The above is a detail from the resulting author cloud. I like the cuecat as a nice little interface tool, necessary now like a CD reader was when you fed all your old CDs into iTunes, then promptly put them all away in a box. In this case of course, we’re only ripping the metadata, not the books themselves. LibraryThing works very well, even if it’s... Read the rest of this post →
Vanquished in the field of arms, Armenia seeks salvation in the scriptoria. It is a retreat, but in this withdrawal there is dignity and a will to live. What is a scriptorium? It can be a cell, sometimes a room in a clay cottage, even a cave in the rocks. In such a scriptorium is a writing desk, and behind it stands a copyist, writing. Armenian consciousness was always infused with a sense of impending ruin. And by the fervent concomitant desire for rescue. The desire to save one’s world. Since it cannot be saved, let its memory be preserved.... Read the rest of this post →
And so the end of the year. So much to say, so little time. I’m off until mid-January, and I wish all Booktwo readers the very merriest of Christmases. No final comments (and I have so much to say!), no best-of lists (although I have to say, this was definitely my book of the year). I just helped launch Coversourcing, which should provide some diversion for the more artistic of you during your time off, Tom McCarthy’s Surplus Matter has received a quick redesign, and I can’t not recommend Cooking With Booze for those still... Read the rest of this post →
Whenever I have the discussion with people about the future of literature I run into a brick wall: “But I Love Books.” Well, so do I: here’s proof, if it was needed – the fruit of my Saturday. After months of having them stacked untidily around me, they’re back where they belong, out, accessible – and gorgeous. I did try thinning the collection, going through the lot in the hope there would be some in their I could bear to part with. I ended up chucking three old guidebooks and a couple of unread proofs. I am incapable.
If things have been less busy around here for the last couple of weeks, there’s a reason: I’m moving on from my day job with the lovely Snowbooks, and pursuing other opportunities, with the consequent upheavals. Booktwo isn’t going anywhere though, and neither is Slow Fire – thanks to all who have signed up, and expect to see something in the next few weeks (I’m off to MiniCamp tonight, to see how they do things). Apologies for the self-promotion, but one of the things I’ll be doing is this: STML Studio, a design and marketing consultancy... Read the rest of this post →
For Hire
Booktwo.org is the blog of James Bridle, a book and technology specialist with specific expertise in planning and producing web and new media projects for clients in publishing and the arts. If you'd like to hire me, have a look at my CV and portfolio, and feel free to get in touch.
I am also a member of the Really Interesting Group.
You can follow me on Twitter.
Speaking Engagements:
I am available for conferences and other events. For examples, see my talks at Interesting, Playful, South by Southwest, dConstruct and Tools of Change Frankfurt.
A complete list of talks, with links, is available.
